Long Story

Salt & Straw, which has been serving up “small-batch, chef-driven ice cream made by hand with local ingredients” since 2011, has dished out some seriously unconventional flavors over the years (think pear and blue cheese), but its latest line of ice cream made from food waste might just top them all. Yes, we said food waste.

Teaming up with Urban Gleaners, which collects “edible, surplus food” and redistributes it in an effort to curb the US' terrible food waste habits, Salt & Straw reached out to “bulk businesses, nonprofits, and farmers” to collect food that was headed for the trash, reportsMunchies, and turned it all into frozen treats. This is like that time South Korea came up with an ice cream to cure hangovers... strange on first thought, but actually pretty genius.

After some testing to ensure that the produce wasn’t home to any bacteria, Salt & Straw set off to create a bunch of ice cream flavors out of its findings, which included everything from leftover bread from local bakeries to sunchokes from local farmers.

The repurposed ice cream flavors are now being served in Salt & Straw's Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco shops and it seems like customers are totally digging them. We gotta say, a road trip might just be in order.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question

Why aren't more companies stepping up and joining the fight against food waste?

Disrupt Your Feed

Turns out leftover mayo and bread make delicious ice cream.

Drop This Fact

Nearly 1/3 of the 430 billion pounds of edible food that was produced in the US in 2010 went uneaten.